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One of my favorite stories is
the one about the two men who went fishing while their wives
went Christmas shopping. While out on a boat, a storm came up
over the water. They scurried to bring in their fishing tackle
and make their way back to shore. However, the storm increased
rapidly and hit them hard when they were still at least 200
yards from land. To make matters worse, the boat hit a
sandbar. They got out of the boat and were up to their
shoulders in water as the wind blew and whipped around them
from every direction. Soaked to the skin, one man looked at
the other and said, “Sure does beat Christmas shopping,
doesn’t it?”
The season of shopping has
begun—officially. For some it is fun; for others it is the
least favorite thing to do. For some it seems to be a duty;
for others it is a dreaded activity. The season begins and
with it the economic speculation. Will this be a blue or a
green Christmas?
I recently discovered a quote
from the last U.S. recession back in 1991. It was from the
writing of Ellen Goodman. This is what she said:
…there is the implication
that anyone who truly loves her country and wants it to
recover from this recession will contribute this holiday
season to the 100 neediest malls. We’re all supposed to be
buying, not just for Aunt Evelyn, but for Uncle Sam…The
economy will drop unless you shop?
A lot of demands are placed upon
us in the next few weeks. We must decorate our homes. We must
make sure that Christmas is special for our children or our
grandchildren. We must meet a variety of social engagements
and obligations. But most of all, we must participate in the
act of gifting. Gifts all around, the same number of gifts for
each person, no one left off the list.
Is it not true that most of us
have had fleeting thoughts about simplifying Christmas? The
thoughts occur about this time every year. The first such
effort about which I am aware came out with something called
an “alternative Christmas catalog” 25 years ago. Simplifying,
however, is very difficult. The culture has us by the throat.
I found a wonderfully descriptive quotation recently which
goes like this: “We are comfortable in a culture of crazed
consumption, even while haunted by vague visions of a
disentangled life.”
And we’re not much helped by
Santa Claus, or even by St. Nicholas. Santa’s message is
simple: Be good and get gifts. Be bad and get no gifts. Be
very good and get more, bigger, and better gifts! Santa is a
lot of fun. But Santa is lousy theology.
On this first day of December
2002 I need to remind myself of the Biblical witness. What
does the Good Book tell me about observing this season? What
does it mean to model God’s witness to us? Here’s the text:
“Every generous act of giving… is from above, coming down from
the Father of lights.”
Live with that text with me for
a few minutes. It comes from a New Testament letter chock-full
of practical advice. What does this text look like in action?
What does it mean, “a generous gift from above”? What kind of
advice does it give us for Christmas giving?
A GIFT THAT ENDURES
For one thing it says to give
gifts that endure. Give something that lasts a long time. Yes,
I know, diamonds are forever… but this is not a commercial for
diamonds. A true Christmas gift is one that will have
durability.
I heard a story about a father
who traveled a great deal in his business. He would always
bring a gift home for his little girl from wherever he had
been on that trip. Mostly they were inexpensive gifts. Often
they were toys, and broke in a week or so. One day as he was
leaving for another one of these trips, his daughter said to
him, “Daddy, this time bring me home something that lasts
forever.”
Give a memory this Christmas.
Start a tradition. Do something that has durability. You can
start this kind of practice early. Children and youth today
can be imaginative here and decide what you would like to give
as a tradition or a memory to your home and family in your
adult life.
A GIFT TO THE HEART
The text also suggests that all
gifts should be gifts to the heart. That’s precisely what God
did for us, and what God does for us. God gives me a gift that
is exactly what I need—meaning, hope, and direction.
I saw a cartoon in which a woman
was opening a gift on Christmas morning and exclaimed loudly,
“Oh, the perfect gift to exchange for exactly what I want!”
That’s not quite the divine idea.
Take some time on this, but take
the right kind of time. Make it reflection time. Make a list.
Write down some names. What is his primary strength? In what
way did she help me with a decision this past year? What is
her passion in life? To what is he truly committed?
Sometimes I think the very best
gift is something from the Alternative Giving Mart. Many of
you will visit the Alternative Giving Mart today after
worship. I went through a growth process on this issue. The
first year I bought some bees. The response went sort of like
this: “Huh? Oh…okay.” The second year I bought rabbits. The
second year response was something like this: “Oh, thank you…
I think!” By the third year I found people saying, “You know,
I really appreciate what you’re doing.”
Two people in my family almost
plead with us, “Don’t get us anything for Christmas.” So I
give Alternative Giving Mart items. They like that. They
celebrate that. I hope to do more of it this year.
In fact, I did some of my
Christmas shopping early. I bought some meals for families in
Haiti, some blankets, and some immunizations. (We used to call
the immunizations “shots,” but we decided that wasn’t too good
a word in the Methodist vocabulary, and now we call them
“immunizations!”) These gifts stand ready for someone who
would understand and appreciate their gifts to the heart.
Give an alternative gift to
someone who has been a real friend to you in the past year.
Give to someone who has provided you with a steady service all
year long. Give an alternative gift to someone for whom a
substantive gift might be more cumbersome than useful. I value
the Alternative Giving Mart here. Gifts of the heart—of the
recipient and the beneficiary. The Alternative Giving Mart is
a worthy successor to the alternative Christmas catalog of 25
years ago.
In a very real way, these are
God-honoring gifts—a gift from the heart to the heart of
another.
A GIFT OF YOURSELF
Finally let me suggest that the
text offers us this counsel: give a gift of yourself.
Fundamentally this is a great truth of the Christian witness.
God gives God’s self to you and me in Jesus. Whatever else we
may believe about Jesus, that much is clear. We may not be
able to explain it or expound upon it, but that’s what
happened.
Writers and philosophers have
taught about this kind of giving. Ralph Waldo Emerson once
said, “The only gift is a portion of yourself.” James Russell
Lowell wrote, “The gift without the giver is bare.” But the
solid original is in the New Testament witness: the gift of
self.
And that is the model for
Christmas giving. Let me share some images.
A little girl was a patient at
Vanderbilt Hospital. Her mother was a prominent socialite and
philanthropist. The mother always came with a nice gift for
her daughter. The hospital room became crowded with toys. One
day the mother arrived with a new gift. She kept her coat on,
and prepared to leave. The little girl clutched at her.
“Mommy, please stay.” The mother replied, “Just remain quiet,
and enjoy the gift I brought you.” But the girl said, “But
Mommy, I want you.”
A young wife sat in my office
one day years ago. She was discussing the temporary brokenness
of her marriage. I’ll never forget what she said: “I just want
him to give me something of himself. I want to know that I
matter to him.”
Some United States soldiers
visited a small orphanage in England after World War II. It
was an institution badly under-funded, and there were no gifts
for Christmas. The soldiers offered small gifts to the
children-— stick of gum, a small coin, a pencil. One soldier
offered his hat. Another soldier spotted a boy sitting quietly
in a corner. He walked over to him and said, “And you, young
man, what would you like for Christmas?” The boy responded,
“Could you hold me for a moment?”
We live in a world hungry for a
hug—for hugs. A friend of mine spotted a store sign that was
simple and profound. It said this: “The ideal Christmas gift:
a hug! One size fits all. Nobody minds if you exchange it.”
The gift of self—that’s what the
Christmas message means. From God to us, from us to one
another, from us to any others.
There’s an interesting play on
words from W. H. Auden’s work, Christmas Piece. The
original says, “For the time being.” But some have suggested
an alternative that places a comma strategically, so that it
reads, “For the time, being.”
I believe that if you and I can
find just a few more ways to give a gift that will last—to
give a gift to the heart, to give a gift of yourself—much of
the guilt and even frustration of the season will be lifted.
I know the change is not easy.
The culture has a pretty good grip. It has a grip on me, and
it has a grip on you as well. We often only see some “vague
visions of a disentangled life.”
This kind of change does not
come quickly. Very few people can effect total change
overnight. But we can pray about it, we can talk about it, we
can desire it.
A.J. Muste was a devout
Christian and social activist. Someone asked him why he
labored for lost causes. Everything he worked for, in a sense,
failed. The reporter put the question this way: “Your work
didn’t make any world impact at all.” Muste wisely replied, “I
don’t do these things to change the world. I do these things
to keep the world from changing me.”
Saturate yourself in some
alternatives in the next few weeks. Make a few adjustments
here and there. Let your model be a reflection of the
Bethlehem child. Every good and perfect gift is from above,
coming down from the Father of lights. |
